By Daniel Perez-Crouse
Tucked away near the back of Cargo, a worldly and lively marketplace with imported and local artisan goods, there’s a new bookstore in Portland that specializes in travel called Postcard Bookshop. But when Patrick Leonard, its owner, says it’s a travel bookstore, he means that in the broadest sense possible.
Alongside guidebooks and language guides are cookbooks, nonfiction and international literature—most of them organized by country. Additional items include bags, curios from different locales and postcards.
“I feel like the way we travel, even though so much more information is available online, there’s a desire for a connection with the culture and an authentic experience when we’re traveling,” said Leonard. He wants Postcard to be a place where different modes of travel can be satisfied; whether you’re planning a trip or wanting to experience that place through stories or recipes.
“My parents inspired me with a real love of going out and seeing new places,” he said. After early, formative experiences going to France in high school and studying abroad in college, he got the travel bug. “For me, a big way that I did travel, and that I continue to travel to many places, is by reading about them.” Leonard says the beauty of reading is that, while he might not have the time or resources for a particular destination at one point in time, he can read a travel writer’s account of going there, a novel about the place or cook some recipes from there. And he’s passing that love to his own child, who has her own section of recommendations.
Opening a bookstore has been a long-time dream of Leonard’s. He worked at a New York publisher for several years, which got him excited about books and the business around them. When he moved back to Portland, where he’s originally from, he wanted to learn more about retail to make that dream a reality.
“First, I spent several years working at Providore Fine Foods. I got a sense of how to run a store and how to work in retail.” He also got to preview his dream as he generated a collection of books, housewares and things related to food from around the world at Providore. “Working there and creating this global cookbook library got the idea in my head that, oh, if I were to open a bookstore, these are the kinds of stories I really want to share.” So at the beginning of this 2024, he decided to go for it.
Leonard said the hardest part was finding a space for a small business. While new developments are happening and spaces are available, many of them are prohibitively large. “I was talking to realtors, brokers and landlords about great spaces in neighborhoods that would be fun, but when you go into the map, it’s like, this isn’t going to pencil out. I don’t know how to pay for a 2,000 square foot space and staff it and keep everything open each day on the margins that retail works nowadays.”
Leonard would find his home after talking with friends of his who are tenants at Cargo. Leonard was impressed with the space, vibe and culture Cargo had cultivated and thought its worldly, artisan-driven marketplace motif was a great fit. And Cargo loved the concept of his bookstore and quickly made a section available to him. He said that since being a small business owner can be a difficult and isolating experience, getting to collaborate and share space with others at Cargo is refreshing. “They (Cargo) were wonderful to work with. They were flexible, supportive and nimble.”
It’s a fun challenge for Leonard to decide what he stocks while squeezing the world into a small space as it forces him to determine which books capture a location. What also helps is making sure he’s highlighting native voices and steering from the old stereotype of American or British travelers presenting a location from their perspective.
“I’ve been pleased with how much people have gravitated towards literature, like the novels or translated stories,” said Leonard. As a travel-oriented book store, he expected people to be primarily interested in phrasebooks or guides, but the literature has been quite popular. “Portland is a very bookish town. There are a lot of really well-read people here who are excited to hear new stories. So, that’s been fun.”
The initial months of the store have been encouraging and positive for Leonard and he looks forward to its future. “The conversations with all of the readers who come in have been so positive and supportive. It has really made me feel like this was a good idea. I had someone tell me that opening business is inherently hopeful because you’re putting something out there and it has to be authentic and you have to believe that people will be excited to embrace it. It’s really nice to see that coming through.”
Postcard Bookstore (inside Cargo)
81 SE Yamhill St.
postcardbookshop.com
503.208.6618
M-F 11 am-6 pm
Sat and Sun 10 am-6 pm
The interior of Postcard at Cargo. Photo by Patrick Leonard.
